Benjz Gerard Magtibay Sevilla
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| Organization: | (DICT) |
| Affiliation: | NextGen@ICANN |
| Region: | Asia |
| Country: | Philippines |
| Email: | benjz.sevilla [at] dict.gov.ph |
Benjz Gerard M. Sevilla graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE) and Minor Studies in Philosophy from Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU), Philippines. He was granted a government and a university dual scholarship and was a recipient of the ECE Program Award as well as an Award for Academic Excellence from Department of Science and Technology - Science Education Institute (DOST - SEI). As an undergraduate, he helped scale up the Ateneo Innovation Center (AIC), and forged numerous collaborations for the establishment of the Convergent Platforms and Network Media Laboratory (CPNM).
Career[edit | edit source]
He has represented the university in various capacities with regards to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), United Nations - Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) and World Economic Forum - East Asia (WEF EA). He has led the hosting of various international conferences such as Asian Internet Interconnection Initiatives (AI3) and School On Internet - Asia (SOI) Project. He was involved with multi-disciplinary teams which worked on Future-proofing AVRs and Setting up Immersive Meeting Rooms, did consultancy on Establishing an Intra-University TV Station and pioneered the use of advanced Remote Video Conferencing for Online Virtual Collaboration.
Currently, he is the Chief of Staff of the Assistant Secretary for Infostructure Management and Special Concerns of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, with a focused interest on the operationalization of broadband infrastructure in support of the Free Internet in Public Places Program.
Education[edit | edit source]
He continued on an Electronics Engineering Masters Program from the same university under the DOST Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) scholarship. He was sent to the Graduate School of Information Science - Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), Japan for a laboratory internship program. His research interests are on Quality of Service and Experience (QoSE) of Mobile Broadband, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), and Interactive Media Design among many others. His inclination on the intricacies of the Internet was built on his internship experience with the DOST Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI). It has led him to advocate the Philippine Research, Education and Government Information Network (PREGINET), and the Philippine Open Internet Exchange (PhOpenIX).
Internet Governance Experience[edit | edit source]
He has been awarded several fellowships to represent the Philippines in the 103rd Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Meeting in Thailand, 9th Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) in Vanuatu, 11th United Nations – Internet Governance Forum (UN – IGF) in Mexico, 8th Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) in Thailand, 1st Asia Pacific School on Internet Governance (APSIG) in Thailand and 2nd Asia Pacific Internet Governance Academy (APIGA) in South Korea, and additionally to the meetings of Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) in Indonesia, Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) in Indonesia and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Abu Dhabi.
He has led the conduct of the Philippines' Pre-IGF Multistakeholder Consultation in 2015, the Philippine Internet Governance Colloquium in 2017, as well as the Asia Pacific Telecommunity and Internet Society's Training on Internet Governance in 2018, in addition to the ongoing Internet Governance Roadshow nationwide of the Foundation for Media Alternatives.
He holds leadership positions and serves as the Secretary of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of the Philippines - Quezon City (IECEP QC), and the Vice-Chair of Professional Development of the Philippine Association of Government ECEs (PAGE). Wearing many hats, Engr. Sevilla is also the Senior Vice President of Internet Society - Philippines (ISOC PH) leading chapter projects on Internet Governance (IG), Internet Engineering Taskforce (IETF) Outreach and organizing arenas for ICT dialogue. He is also the Co-Chair of the Philippine Network Operators Group (PhNOG). A licensed electronics engineer, he works on the Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) Migration Plan as well as substantial support to the development of the National Broadband Plan (NBP), eGovernment Masterplan (eGMP), National ICT Ecosystem Framework (NIEF), among others, in the lens of Internet Governance, Digital Economy and Universal Access, at the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).